


Five Days

by Bhujerban



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Post-Game, they are so tired LET THEM REST
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25075123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bhujerban/pseuds/Bhujerban
Summary: She had spent years learning about the prophecy and urgency of defeating Calamity Ganon. But in all her years of prayer and study, nobody ever talked about what happens after. What happens to heroes when there are no more villains? Where does the incarnation of the Goddess go when prayers are for bountiful harvests and not for the demise of a great evil? What happens to a princess without a kingdom? Who needs an heir to a throne of nothing?--Post-Calamity, Zelda figures out what it means to be alive in a world that is both achingly familiar and terrifyingly foreign. Another puzzle in this new Hyrule: Link, part stranger, part beloved, still constantly,unfailinglyat her side.Post BoTW, ZeLink, One shot.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 255





	Five Days

**Author's Note:**

> Hi friends! Can there be too many post-BoTW fics out there? Maybe, but I'm adding mine to the mix regardless.
> 
> I wrote this both as a character study and as an opportunity to practice my descriptive writing, so it's a bit of a departure from my previous work. Thanks to [dontwaitupxx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontwaitupxx/pseuds/dontwaitupxx) and [MuseLover1901](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuseLover1901/pseuds/MuseLover1901) for beta-ing this for me!!

Five days after they sealed away Calamity Ganon, Zelda had a revelation.

It happened slowly.

It happened all at once.

She had spent years learning about the prophecy and urgency of defeating Calamity Ganon. But in all her years of prayer and study, nobody ever talked about what happens after. What happens to heroes when there are no more villains? Where does the incarnation of the Goddess go when prayers are for bountiful harvests and not for the demise of a great evil? What happens to a princess without a kingdom? Who needs an heir to a throne of nothing? 

The realization was simple: she belonged nowhere.

The thought was liberating in its simplicity, but it still burned with the bitterness of loss. She was a princess from another age—a relic from an era long since gone. The world didn’t remember Hyrule Kingdom as she did, and they didn’t need to anymore. They didn’t need _her_ anymore.

There had been talk of rebuilding, of unifying a kingdom: visions of a Hyrule whole and complete once more. Impa had impressed upon her the importance of her role as the Goddess’ Chosen in the process of unification. They were to rally behind her. After all, who better than she who held the Calamity at bay for a hundred years to lead them into Hyrule’s next golden age?

It was all too much for a girl who had to remind herself to breathe every few minutes.

Being freed from her cursed prison after a century of struggle was surreal and confusing. While she was holding back the Calamity, she had been vaguely aware of all that existed within her kingdom; from the smallest beetle to the ancient trees of the Lost Woods. She had been everything and nothing all at once. Without the threat of the Calamity, she was just a girl. A girl with the kingdom inside her tiny, fragile body. Too weak to hold on to it all. Too weak to let go.

After Link defeated Calamity Ganon and Zelda finally ( _a hundred years after her greatest failure_ ) sealed away the demon, they rode hard for Kakariko. Link had been determined to get them to the Sheikah village as soon as possible, so they shared a horse for the ride, and she was grateful for it. She wasn’t sure she would be able to hold herself up on the horse for the entire journey.

As they travelled, Link hovered by her side. He seemed to understand her confusion and disorientation. He kept a watchful eye as she planted her bare feet into the banks of Hylia River, marveling at the feel of dirt beneath her feet and water between her toes. When they galloped across Sahasra Slope, he pulled a bandana from his bag so she could keep her hair out of her face. Despite the fatigue that lined his own eyes, he managed to anticipate all of her needs.

“Easy,” Link murmured to her, the first time she drank water again. “You’ll make yourself sick if you have too much right away.”

The water was a cold shock to her body. But she grasped at the water pouch and used the feeling of the perspiration against her hands and trickle of cool water down her throat to center her. Everything was too little and too much all at once. It was easier to focus on drinking water.

After she took a few desperate gulps, he took the water pouch from her.

“Princess, I must insist.”

She made a weak noise of protest, but in truth, she knew that he was right. The influx of liquid into her empty stomach was making her feel nauseous. Now that her hands were empty, she didn’t quite know what to do with herself.

Link turned to rifle through his pack and she took the opportunity to study him. He was different now, compared to before. There was a wildness about him that hadn’t existed back when he was a member of the Royal Guard. It wasn’t immediately obvious, but something about the set of his shoulders was less restrained. The way he moved, he belonged out here, in the woods, on the go, instead of shackled to the vestiges of century old knighthood. There was also a contentment that hadn’t been present before either. He smiled more, made small talk, moved among the people with ease. She wondered where it came from. Perhaps defeating Ganon had unburdened him. Perhaps it was something else.

There were so many things she didn’t know about him now. She thought back to the moments after the final battle. The memory that had crystallized, as all others washed away.

_“May I ask…do you really remember me?”_

She hadn’t meant for that to be the first question she’d asked him. But, like so many things on that blessed, cursed day, she couldn’t control it. The question had slipped out, unchecked.

His response was disappointing, but not unexpected. The Shrine of Resurrection had stitched him back together physically but left his mind with swathes of blankness. His memories seemed to be limited to the ones she’d left him in the Slate. But he had rebuilt himself somehow, and this new Link didn’t seem to need those old memories.

The thought had made her sad; she’d loved him then, the Link a hundred years past. She had loved them all: her father, Urbosa, Mipha, Daruk, Revali, the court, her kingdom. She had loved them and let them all down. A lifetime ago, he fought for her, until the end. With his final breath, he had to pay for the cost of her failure. Perhaps it was better that he would be unburdened of her in this new Hyrule.

She was pulled away from her memory as Link approached her. He held a loaf of bread in his hands. He tore a piece off of the loaf and handed it to her. It was a wonder how, even without his memories, this new Link still fell into old habits.

“You might not feel hungry, but you should try to eat.” He moved to stash away the rest of the bread. “And when we get to Kakariko, maybe you could try some soup.”

She didn’t know what compelled him, but he was constantly watchful, even after they’d arrived in Kakariko. The Sheikah were more than capable caretakers but Link rarely let her out of his sight. His presence eased the blind terror cramping in her chest. It was good to know that some things could stay the same.

When they reached Kakariko, she slept for nearly two whole days. She didn’t know what he did while she was asleep, but whenever she awoke, he would be there. He would hand her some water, brush her hair away from her face, and wait for her to drink. He stayed at her bedside until she dozed off again, not saying a word.

Talks of reunification began on the fourth day. When it was deemed that she was well rested enough to begin discussions, Impa had laid out the plan. Zelda sat in the sitting room with Link behind her and tried to focus as the Sheikah began to devise strategies to convince the different races of Hyrule to pledge their loyalty to the throne. Their expectations settled on her shoulders, chafing like an ill-fitted uniform.

On the fifth day, she was in the sitting room of Impa’s house, listening as the Sheikah elders debated unification tactics when she had her revelation. The more the elders spoke, the more her feelings of unease built and built until they finally crested at the pinnacle of her disquiet.

She stood abruptly, interrupting a Sheikah elder mid-sentence. “I don’t belong here.” She said, her voice surprisingly steady.

The Sheikah sputtered, confused by her sudden assertion.

One of the elders said, “No, Princess. Of course you don’t—you can’t run the kingdom from Kakariko! We will be rebuilding the castle as soon as possible. You will rule from there.”

“No,” she responded, “I don’t belong there either.”

The Sheikah looked at her then at each other. Link made no sound at her back. Above it all, Zelda met Impa’s gaze. Her expression was not disappointed, like Zelda had expected, but was resigned. Weariness and age lined Impa’s face, but beneath it, Zelda could still see her friend from a hundred years ago. Another person that paid the price for her failure.

“Princess,” Impa’s voice was calm, “what do you plan on doing then?”

“I…” Zelda hadn’t thought this far ahead. She’d only wanted them to stop bowing to her and expecting her to lead them. “I don’t know, but I need some time.”

The silence was laced with anxiety, but Impa nodded. “Of course. You, of all people deserve to rest.”

Zelda stood and felt the gaze of the Sheikah elders heavy on her. Each lingering glance was a rock in her pocket, pulling her under a current she didn’t know how to fight, drowning her under the weight of their expectations.

“Thank you all for your time,” she managed. “Thank you for your loyalty, even after all these years.”

She gave a deep bow and turned around. For a moment, she met Link’s eyes, his carefully neutral expression revealed none of his thoughts. She broke away, unable to bear any more judgement, and pushed her way out to the balcony.

The rush of the waterfall was the first sound that hit her, and the cool mist of water was soothing on her skin. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and imagined what it would be like to fade away. What would happen if she just dissolved into the water? She could be washed down the waterfall, travel along the rivers and lakes that snake across the land. She could be everywhere and nowhere, all at once. She could be free. She tried to extend her mind out into the world again, to sense the bounty of life that teemed across the kingdom.

She could feel nothing but the steady thrum of her own pulse in her head.

With a sigh, she took a seat on the floor and tucked her feet neatly beneath her. The sun was just beginning to set around her, the glow of dusk painting the surroundings burnt orange. There should be peace here, but it felt just out of reach.

She heard the slide of the door and felt a presence behind her. Of course, her loyal knight would follow. Would they ever be free of each other? She waited for him to approach her, but when he didn’t, some of the tension she held in her shoulders released.

She was just so tired. A century of fighting and they still needed more from her. It was not that she didn’t want to help unite the kingdom—she was, after all, the Princess of Hyrule and the urge to help her people was bred deep within her bones. But she wasn’t ready yet and she didn’t know when she would be. The thought of diplomatic meetings, strict protocols, and royal proclamations made her head spin.

Zelda needed some time to recover. She needed time to rediscover this new world that she suddenly found herself in. She wanted to feel the wind in her hair, feel the sand beneath her feet, experience the first snowfall of the season; she wanted to remember the joys of being alive, after all these years. Impa would insist that she should stay in Kakariko so the Sheikah would be able to take care of her. They would be attentive to her every need and offer her all the support she could possibly want in her recovery.

She could feel herself suffocating already.

Without the Sheikah, where would she go? Who did she have? She turned her head slightly to look at Link in her peripheral vision. No, she couldn’t possibly ask more of him now.

And yet, she could not let him go. She was nearly alone in this new world and he was the only one that could understand.

“Link.” There was no response from behind her, but she knew that she had his attention. “What should I do now? Where do I go from here?”

“Hateno.” His response was immediate and his voice was soft. “We should go to Hateno.”

She continued to gaze out into the waterfall. Link didn’t speak again. Instead, he sat down next to her and looked out into the distance. He placed his hand down next to hers on the floorboards, their pinkies nearly touching.

This was new. Before the Calamity, Link would have never dared to sit beside her like this. A knight was to be five paces behind his lady at all times. There were rules, protocols, pages and pages of etiquette—but those old ways burned down with the old kingdom. _Small mercies_ , the thought was bitter ash on her tongue.

At length, there was a shuffle of movement beside her and she felt the drape of fabric around her shoulders. His cape. It smelled like wildfire, bomb arrows, and maybe a hint of pine, so unlike the Armoranth scented soaps that the Royal Guard used to use. Link’s scent: another change that these hundred years had brought. She raised her eyes to him as he shifted back to his seat beside her.

“I bought a house,” he said, continuing their conversation as if she had responded. “In Hateno, by Firly Pond. It’s small, more like a cottage, but there’s enough space for us both.”

Hope stirred tentatively in her chest as she considered it. “What would I do there?”

“Rest. You must be tired.” His voice held no judgement, no accusation, just honesty.

“What would you do there?”

“Rest. I’m tired too.”

She turned so that she could study him fully. He was still looking out at the waterfall, but his eyes flitted back to her face when she turned to him. His posture was relaxed, but she could sense that he held the same bone heavy weariness as she did. He was the Hero of Hyrule and, just like her, he’d never been allowed to rest.

Perhaps rest was what they both deserved.

“Then after…” he studied her face carefully, “we can figure it out.”

“Figure what out?”

“Where we belong.”

She let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. How did he know? How did he always seem to understand what she needed? Some things change and some things stay the same. His blue eyes shone in the darkness, familiar and foreign all at once. This was not the boy she loved one hundred years ago. And yet…at the core, she could still feel the draw of him, the understanding that this was where she needed to be.

At the end of it all, or perhaps in the beginning, it was supposed to be the two of them. A goddess and her protector. A princess and her knight. A girl and her boy. Across time, space, incarnations. They could figure it out together.

She lifted a delicate hand and laid it gently but purposefully on top of Link’s. In the chill of the night air, the warmth of him suffused her cold fingertips. If he was surprised, he didn’t show it. Without looking at her, he flipped his hand over and laced his fingers through hers.

Their intertwined hands anchored her, kept her from drifting away from this time, from this place, from this existence. Despite everything that had happened, she was alive. And he was too.

“Hateno.” The words fluttered from her, tentative, like a fledgling bird. “We should go to Hateno.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! As always, I appreciate all comments --they really motivate me as a writer.  
> You can also come say hi on Tumblr, where I'm [BhujerbanWrites.](https://bhujerbanwrites.tumblr.com/)


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